Films In Which The Protagonist Seems To Achieve His Objective Rather Too Easily

[Maybe Im Doing It Wrong]

Tonight I watched

Spoiler alert

Taken, the 2008 Liam Neeson thriller and it was quite enjoyable. But I sort of thought Neeson's character managed to go to France and rescue his daughter from Albanian sex slavers...well...really rather too easily. It was sort of like falling off a log for him. Sure, he had to kill a lot of people to do it, but he never met any obstacle that he couldn't get round in about one second. And that kinds spoiled it for me.

[close]

Any other films that this is true of?

[Mister Six]

Not films, but loads of Warren Ellis's comics - particularly his Global Frequency issues and other projects from around that time - completely lack second acts. There's an issue of Global Frequency that's literally, 'We must enter this base and free the kidnapped scientists before it explodes. Okay, we did that. THE END'.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Agreed, which is a real shame as I like him as a writer, but his endings are often so lazy. I read Scars for the first time last night, and whilst it starts off well enough, the ending is rushed and far too convenient.

[mister_enmity]

Ocean's Eleven. I think it's just me or there's like barely any hiccups in the execution of the plan.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Sure, it wasn't exactly a walk in the park - but two measly torpedoes, fired into an unshielded exhaust port, to destroy a whole Death Star?

[CaledonianGonzo]

Goldfinger.  Bond gets captured early on and spends most of the movie in stir. The laser torture is stopped for no good reason and he only manages to foil the villain cos he sexually assaults the henchwoman.

[Mister Six]

Ocean's Eleven. I think it's just me or there's like barely any hiccups in the execution of the plan.

Surely we can waive the complaint in the case of heist movies? Part of the appeal is in seeing how super-prepared the good guys are.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

That's amazing. When I read the thread title I immediately thought of Taken.

It's what sets it apart though, the relentless way in which the film doesn't have any twists at all, just a constant forward movement to the ultimate goal.

[Ignatius_S]

Surely we can waive the complaint in the case of heist movies? Part of the appeal is in seeing how super-prepared the good guys are.

Yup - I'd go along with that.

What usually happened with those type of movies, is that the heist would be pulled off, but something afterwards would backfire that meant that the crooks didn't get the money/haul.

[madhair60]

Beavis and Butt-head Do America.  Sure, they go all the way around the country, but

Spoiler alert

their TV turns out to just be in a bin yards from their house

[close]

.

Hilarious movie.

[Desi Rascal]

The ending of baby boy always annoys the fuck out of me Tyrese Gibson's jody basically gets away with being an

Spoiler alert

Accessory to murder

[close]

of Snoop Dogs

Spoiler alert

Mr Rapey

[close]

and yet neither the police or Snoops buddies seem that bothered about it

[babyshambler]

Baby's day out.

[Jemble Fred]

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049833

Talk about jammy.

[Blumf]

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049833

Talk about jammy.

Are you kidding, he had to lug about two large stone tablets about. God could have printed them on some parchment or something, but nooooo had to be stone. Couldn't fit them in his pocket or anything. tsk!

[Mythical Wet Patch]

Goldfinger.  Bond gets captured early on and spends most of the movie in stir. The laser torture is stopped for no good reason and he only manages to foil the villain cos he sexually assaults the henchwoman.

I recall reading an article/ post somewhere about Goldfinger where it they repeatedly pointed out that, even for a James Bond movie, the espionage on display is particularly laterally thunk. James Bond's spying tactic in the film seems to be to go to Goldfingers house and act like a real fucking cock for an extended period of time till Goldfinger tries to kill him. I've no idea if that's true because I can't recall the film, but I have heard it expressed before that Bond is essentially incompetent in that narrative if you think about it.   

[Maybe Im Doing It Wrong]

Well Bond's a rubbish spy, mainly because everybody fucking knows who he is. "The famous Mr. Bond I presume?"

[CaledonianGonzo]

Well Bond's a rubbish spy, mainly because everybody fucking knows who he is. "The famous Mr. Bond I presume?"

That particular trope depends on the movie, TBH.  Along with whether or not he knows how to dismantle a nuclear bomb.

But yes, Bond is a pretty passive participant in the events of Goldfinger.

[non capisco]

As a kid I always wanted to see a whole film leading up to the events of the pre-credit sequence of 'Goldfinger'. It's only in later years it strikes you that Bond basically does dick-all in the main story other than continuously annoy Goldfinger with his government Licence To Act The Cock. I still love those first three Connery films though, especially 'From Russia With Love'. 'Dr No' is like a different film to the any of the others, it's such a cold blooded portrayal of Bond in comparison with even the next one on.

[Catalogue Trousers]

Mister Six wrote:

Surely we can waive the complaint in the case of heist movies? Part of the appeal is in seeing how super-prepared the good guys are.

To a large degree, but there are exceptions. One of the many things that make Sneakers such a fine heist/caper movie is that the "good" and "bad" guys are so evenly-matched in preparation and deviousness.

Much as I love Goldfinger, the point being made here is a very good one that's never occurred to me previously. Why the hell does Goldfinger spare Bond when he's strapped to the laser-table in the Alpine factory? Bond makes a mention of "Operation Grand Slam", Goldfinger understandably replies: "Words that you overheard, which mean nothing to you" (or words to that effect). Bond: "Can you afford to take that chance?"

In a logical Universe: Goldfinger: "Hmmmm...do you know, I think that I can. Goodbye, Mister Bond."

Cue barbecued Bond bollocks and a bifurcated British agent.

In all fairness, the same basic flaw is there in the original book, but it's still pretty rubbish.

[samadriel]

Although much of the pleasure of the typical heist movie is in the gang's level of ability, after the halfway mark or so they're usually dealing with the stuff that's gone wrong, surely?

[Pedro_Bear]

So... I need to go on a quest now, on my own for unspecified mystical reasons, to retrieve the artefact from certain danger and complicated tricks and traps and... oh, no, look, there it is!

To be fair, Krull is quite an extraordinary movie. It is propelled forward presumably without a complete script or plot solely on the good-nature and determination of the cast and crew.

The 80's had a run of artifact non-quests like this, seemingly written by bad dungeon master friends of the producer, e.g. The Golden Child had Eddie Murphy take the piss out of heavy-handed symbolism to collect the Ajanti dagger.

[Incandenza]

Shit film, but the end of Under Siege- Segal spends the whole film battling his way towards Tommy Lee Jones, then kills him in about 4 seconds after meeting him.
Every time it's on tv I get really fucked off about this, despite the fact it's a shite film anyway and I should just leave it be.
There's a whole host of these "main bad guy killed too quick" moments.

Also, not quite the same thing, but a major problem with Indy IV (well, one major problem amongst hundreds of others) is that Indy is actually way harder at 60 or however old he is than he was in the previous films. Everything is so easy for him, all the fighting takes no toll on him whatsoever. The joy of the originals was watching an action hero who didn't want to be an action hero, only just scraping through at the end, completely battered, bloody and exhausted. In Crystal Skull he takes about a thousand serious blows to the head without even blinking.

[Mister Six]

Also, not quite the same thing, but a major problem with Indy IV (well, one major problem amongst hundreds of others) is that Indy is actually way harder at 60 or however old he is than he was in the previous films. Everything is so easy for him, all the fighting takes no toll on him whatsoever. The joy of the originals was watching an action hero who didn't want to be an action hero, only just scraping through at the end, completely battered, bloody and exhausted. In Crystal Skull he takes about a thousand serious blows to the head without even blinking.

My problem with the fights in Crystal Skull was that most of them were being done by Mutt, Marion, Ray Winstone and everybody but Indy from the bike chase onward. Add to that John Hurt and Mutt solving all the puzzles and you've got an Indiana Jones film in which Indy is, inexplicably, the sidekick.

[SavageHedgehog]

Shit film, but the end of Under Siege- Segal spends the whole film battling his way towards Tommy Lee Jones, then kills him in about 4 seconds after meeting him.
Every time it's on tv I get really fucked off about this, despite the fact it's a shite film anyway and I should just leave it be.

You could copy and paste the entire filmography of Steven Seaal into this thread (bar the odd supporting role like Executive Decision, My Giant, Machete etc.)